Are Brazilian Materialistic Adolescents Happy With Their Lives?

Abstract In our society, material values have been of great importance. Studies point out that too much appreciation of material goods (materialism) can negatively influence the development of individuals. This study investigates the levels of materialism and its relation with the levels of life satisfaction in adolescents of public and private schools in Porto Alegre. Participants included a total of 128 adolescents, aged 11 to 18 years (M = 13.80, SD = 1.74), 75% female. Two scales were administrated: EVM (Materialism) and EMSVA (Adolescence life satisfaction). The results indicated a significant inverse correlation between levels of materialism and family satisfaction (r = -0.550, p <0.001) and school (r = -0.436, p <0.001). According to the literature, these adolescents are more susceptible to illness and academic losses. We suggest that further studies use interviews with the participants.